Rockets-Trail Blazers Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMANPosted Oct 27 2009 11:09AM

The Portland Trail Blazers have higher expectations after ending a five-season drought without reaching the playoffs.

The Houston Rockets beat Portland in the playoffs last season, but may have set their goals a little lower after learning that All-Star center Yao Ming won't play in 2009-10.

The clubs will open the new season Tuesday night at the Rose Garden with Houston ready for the challenge of playing without its best player.

Houston (53-29) beat Portland (54-28) in six games last season before losing a seven-game conference semifinal series to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers. Yao was injured in Game 3, and the Rockets posted two blowout home wins without him to extend the series to a decisive game.

They will have to cope without Yao after the center underwent foot surgery in May. Oft-injured former All-Star Tracy McGrady had microfracture surgery on his left knee last February and is sidelined until midseason.

"The people we're missing are huge pieces," coach Rick Adelman said. "It's one thing when you have Yao on the floor and Tracy, and you have a role that you do. Now, suddenly, we're going to see who's going to step up, see who's going to make the leap, and we need that. We have to have that. It's going to be interesting to watch the team progress."

While losing Yao in the middle is a major blow for Houston, the Trail Blazers feel they will get a big season out of another center with a history of injuries. Greg Oden is set to become the starter at center after coming off the bench in the playoffs last season.

Oden sat out his first season due to microfracture surgery on his right knee and had an inconsistent season in 2008-09, averaging 8.9 points and 7.0 rebounds. The Blazers are hoping a strong preseason for Oden will carry over into the games that count.

"We've got big Greg," All-Star guard Brandon Roy said. "He gets in there and causes a lot of havoc inside. Any time our big men can get tips and hands on basketballs it's only going to help us out. They can get us more shots."

Houston made some major moves to shore up its roster after Ron Artest left to join the Lakers. The Rockets signed Trevor Ariza away from the Lakers and he is expected to pick up the slack for McGrady.

"I can't even explain how excited I am to have an opportunity to expand my game," Ariza said. "That's what every player really wants."

To partially replace Yao's production in the paint, Houston will count on a pair of foreign big men in Luis Scola and David Andersen. Scola averaged 12.7 points and 8.8 boards last season for the Rockets while the slender, 6-11 Andersen was signed in August after a career spent mostly in Europe, including three Euroleague championships between 2001-08.

The Rockets are also counting on getting more from Aaron Brooks, who emerged to average 21.8 points in the games against the Lakers without Yao.

"Aaron has an opportunity," Adelman said. "In the playoffs, he had big games and you want to see where his growth continues. It can't be one game here, one game there. It's got to be consistent, over the course of the season, every game."

Roy averaged 26.5 points in the series against Houston last season after scoring 22.6 points per game in 2008-09 to lead Portland to its highest win total since the 1999-200 club won 59 games and reached the West finals. LaMarcus Aldridge averaged 19.5 points in the playoffs.

The Blazers signed both to extensions - Roy received a five-year deal worth about $80 million and Aldridge signed a five-year contract with incentives will pay him up to $70 million.

Portland also added point guard Andre Miller, a 10-year veteran who brings needed experience to a roster that was the second-youngest team in the NBA last season.

"I'm just looking forward to the challenge, you know?" Miller said. "I know Portland wants to accomplish a lot of things, and I want to add to that."

Houston has also won six of its last seven regular-season meetings with Portland in addition to its postseason success last season.

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Blazers drop short-handed Rockets in playoffs rematch

By Kerry Eggers, for NBA.comPosted Wednesday October 28, 2009 2:16AM

PORTLAND, Ore. (NBA.com exclusive) -- It wasn't a masterpiece. Near the end, there were some anxious moments.

But the Trail Blazers' opening night can be considered a success with a 96-87 victory over the Houston Rockets Tuesday at the Rose Garden.

It was a matchup of teams that squared off in the first round of the playoffs last season, with Houston winning in six games. The Rockets aren't the same team, missing injured stars Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady and the departed Ron Artest.

Playing at home with a much bigger, much deeper lineup, the Blazers had enough good stretches to put away the Rockets in fairly comfortable fashion.

Portland did squander a 20-point fourth-quarter lead that shrunk to eight with more than three minutes remaining before taking care of business. And the Blazers had 26 turnovers -- more than they had in a single game last season.

But there were plenty of good signs, too, from a Portland team that is expected to make a solid run at the Northwest Division championship.

The Blazers held Houston to .370 shooting, owned the backboards (51-33), blocked 12 shots and shot superbly from 3-point range (.476) and free-throw line (.909).

"I saw some good stuff," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "We did a good job running our offense and defensively trying to control [the Rockets]. Other than the turnovers and our early fouls, it was pretty good. But this will probably be the last game we win with 26 turnovers."

Houston's late run made the final count respectable, but coach Rick Adelman wasn't happy with a lot of aspects of the Rockets' opening performance.

"We didn't play well as a team," Adelman said. "We tried to do everything one-on-one and made a lot of mistakes in the second quarter that gave [the Blazers] some easy baskets that were unnecessary.

"We just make too many mental mistakes throughout the course of the game. We don't have the ability to match up with them like we did in the playoffs last year. Maybe we'll get to that at some point. We'll have to make some adjustments for when we play them again Saturday."

After a preseason in which he shot only .375 from the field, Portland's Travis Outlaw provided a huge lift off the bench with a game-high 23 points, 14 coming in the first half, on 9-for-14 shooting.

"I really wasn't that worried about the preseason," Outlaw said. "That's when you're trying things and fine-tuning. It wasn't like it was the playoffs.

"I came into the game night just to be calm, not trying to force anything. If the shot's there, it's there."

Portland centers Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla and power forward LaMarcus Aldridge all experienced foul trouble, which limited their offensive production. The 7-foot Oden -- defended by 6-foot-6 Chuck Hayes much of the night -- had 12 rebounds and five blocks. But Oden picked up five fouls that limited him to 26 minutes, had seven turnovers and scored only two points -- a put-back with a minute remaining.

"It was all right for the first game," the second-year pro said. "You definitely want a lot more points, but I did some good things that don't show up in the stat sheet. I feel OK with the performance. I want to cut down on the turnovers, but we came through with a victory."

Przybilla fouled out with two points and 10 rebounds in 16 minutes.

"Houston's [big men] are small but they're good, smart defenders," McMillan said. "Hayes, [Luis] Scola, [Carl] Landry -- those guys do a nice job. They baited our bigs into rushing things at times, and we turned the ball over way too often."

Houston will have to try to use its quickness and transition game to full advantage. The Rockets won the battle in fastbreak points 16-8, but only Aaron Brooks (19 points on 8-for-17) and 29-year-old rookie forward David Andersen (11 on 4-for-8) shot well.

Portland, meanwhile, can use its size and depth, even with the loss of starting small forward Nicolas Batum, who will undergo surgery Friday for a torn right labrum and be lost for at least three months. McMillan used a nine-man rotation Tuesday, and a group of reserves -- Przybilla, Outlaw, Andre Miller and Rudy Fernandez -- paired with starter Martell Webster for most of a 31-point second quarter that featured runs of 11-0 and 9-0.

'We played hard, we played aggressive," said Portland's All-Star guard Brandon Roy, who contributed 20 points, five rebounds and five assists despite a 5-for-18 shooting night. "We were sloppy, had too many turnovers.

"We built a nice lead, but the biggest thing is, we didn't put [the Rockets] away when we had a chance to. But again, first game. We're just happy to take this win. That's one under our belts."